


It Just Hasn't Happened Yet

by CasualDrugDealerNiall



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe, Perrie Edwards & Zayn Malik Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 05:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualDrugDealerNiall/pseuds/CasualDrugDealerNiall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry’s warm and doesn’t leave Zayn’s side for most of the party. Their mouths stay a good distance away though, which has Zayn both relieved and upset. He’s not sure if Harry wants to kiss him or not, if he’s honest.</p>
<p>Or, it's Christmas Eve and everyone's done dealing with Zayn and Harry's sexual tension.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Just Hasn't Happened Yet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xkellsyeahninja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xkellsyeahninja/gifts).



> Merry Christmas to Kelly! (xkellsyeahninja)

Perrie doesn’t even say anything when she gets in the car. She just does that low whistle thing, like she’s shocked and impressed and that has Zayn rolling his eyes as she slams the car door shut more forcefully than he likes. He winces, but doesn’t say anything because Perrie doesn’t give him the chance to as she brushes snow off her head and puts a shining red gift bag in the back.

“Damn, Malik,” she says as he pulls off the curb without looking– Perrie lives on a dead end, so he doesn’t bother to think himself as reckless. “You classed up,” she sounds impressed, but Zayn knows there’s some teasing coming.

“No I didn’t,” he grumbles, scratching at the black turtle neck keeping him more warm than necessary in the heated car. “I look normal.”

 

“You’re wearing your best turtle neck  _and_  jacket,” she notes, sing-songy as she reaches under the seat for his CD collection. “You’re practically peacocking yourself.”

 

Zayn rolls his eyes, stops at a light and sighs. He waits till it turns green to speak, watches as Perrie goes through the CDs. “It’s a Christmas Eve party,” he explains. “I thought  I shouldn’t go in looking like a grunge teenager.” Perrie tosses her head back to laugh even though it wasn’t that funny, but Perrie laughs at everything.

“God,” she chuckles. “You must have a raging hard on for Harry,” she giggles, pulling out a mixed CD she made him when they were sixteen and popping it in the CD player. It starts off with Jennifer Lopez, early years, and Zayn has a second where he feels really old. He let’s it hit him, wash over him, then trickle away. He’s only twenty-three, jeez.

“We’ve only been on a few dates,” Zayn reminds her, huffing a bit as he turns the car and speeds up his windshield wipers against the snow. “It’s nothing serious.”

“Right,” she laughs. “It’s been, what, a month now since you two started ‘hanging out’?” Zayn glances over and she’s doing air quotes and sticking her tongue out. He’s completely confused as to why he’s friends with her. “Just admit you like him so you can suck his dick already, jesus.”

**  
**Zayn laughs at that, then shakes his head. “God, you’re vulgar tonight.” He looks over and she’s shrugging. “Are you projecting or genuinely upset with how my relationship with Harry is turning out?”

 

She shrugs again, smiling wickedly. “Little bit of both. I mean, it’s been eight months since either of us have been laid, and now you have tall, dark, and dimpled presenting himself to you all eager and flirty and you’re ‘ _taking it slow_ ’. Pathetic,” she laughs and makes face and Zayn chuckles and shakes his head. “Is he a good kisser at least?”

 

Zayn bites his lip, stares out the window and turns a corner and gnaws on the inside of his cheek. Perrie is going to throttle him. Or laugh in his face. Probably both.

**  
**He can practically hear her jaw fall open when too many seconds have passed. “Oh my fucking god, you _prude_!” she squeals, punching him in the shoulder. “You haven’t even  _kissed_  him!”

 

Zayn sighs and glances over at her, mouth open wide and eyes even bigger. He kind of winces, shrugs and doesn’t say anything because that’s confirmation enough, and he doesn’t know how to explain to her that it’s almost happened. Harry and he have been inhales and exhales away from each other time and time again. Eyelashes fluttering and Zayn’s hands shaking at his side when Harry’s words slow to a stop. Something happens though, every time. Something happens and Harry is pulling back or Zayn is looking away, and it hasn’t worked out. And maybe that’s why it’s going so slow, why he can’t really figure out if him and Harry are dating or just friends who sometimes pay for the other’s meal and casually hold the other’s hand. It’d be alright, being Harry’s friend. Zayn’s not sure though if he can be Harry’s friend who sometimes, almost kisses him before the universe tells him no.

 

“Zayn!” Perrie shouts, turning in her seat and the next song starts playing. It’s something by a pop star they both use to love but don’t remember any more. “ _Zayn_!” she shouts again, as if his name is the only lecture she can think of.

**  
**“It just hasn’t happened yet!” he replies. “We almost do, but then something happens and we _don’t_. It’s terrible, Pezza, I know.”

 

“Then do something about it!”

“I can’t just walk up to him and kiss, Perrie!”

**  
**She huffs, sighs and shakes her head violently, her pink and blonde curls swaying around face. “You cannot seriously tell me that you, Zayn ‘Banged-Liam-the-Prude-on-the-first-date’ Malik, have spent a _month_  with a boy and not even  _kissed_  him yet!”

 

“It just hasn’t happened,” Zayn repeats.

“Are you going to kiss him tonight?” she asks urgently.

 

“I… don’t know?” he replies, scrunching his brow and glancing at her. Surely she doesn’t think it’s that easy. “I mean, I can’t just kiss him.”

“Yes you can, it’s Christmas,” she argues quickly, shaking her head and turning the music down.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Zayn sighs. “And besides, it’s his friend’s party.”

“Niall and Louis are your friends too,” Perrie reminds him, voice a little softer and Zayn sometimes forgets that Perrie knows him better than anyone. He smiles at her, but shakes his head.

**  
**“Yeah, but Harry is, like, Louis’s _best_  friend. He was his best man at the wedding,” he reminds her. Because yeah, him and Louis work together and they get along great enough that it makes sense for him and Perrie to be at the party, but Harry’s been helping  _plan_  it. There’s a difference in levels there, not that Zayn minds.

 

He sees Perrie roll her eyes out of his peripheral. “Oh please,” she scoffs. “That wasn’t a wedding. Harry was conveniently Louis’s best man at his and Niall’s drunken elope. No one was invited besides Harry and Greg, and that’s  because they were drunk too. You’re their friend, Zayn.”

Zayn laughs, nodding and just agreeing with Perrie because it’s easier. And she’s not completely lying. He remembers the morning he woke up, checked facebook and saw an update from Niall and Louis saying they were married with photos of them in tuxedo shirts and cheap looking rings forced on their fingers.

The next song starts playing, something that sounds like tween rap and Zayn cringes. He doesn’t change it, let’s it dull between them.

“So,” Perrie starts. “You’ll kiss him tonight?” she prods, her voice back to curious with a hint of annoyance.

**  
**“Jesus, Pez,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “Why are you so concerned with this?”

 

She huffs, turning in her seat and kicking her legs up on the dashboard. Her skirt falls up, her black tights looking too thin to fend off the cold outside the car. “I want you to happy, dork.” It’s the sweetest thing she’s said today, and Zayn smiles at her even though she’s not looking at him. “Honestly, you’re my best friend, and I can tell you like Harry and being with Harry makes you happy. So I can only imagine how great making out with him will be for you.”

“Sure you’re not projecting?” he teases, hoping to stray off the topic.

She punches him in the arm and complies.

 

**! &!**

The Tomlinson-Horan house is kind of nice, really. One story, brick and generic, but homey and warm at the same time. It’s big enough for a party like this– a party filled with people who have nothing better to do on Christmas Eve than get drunk and play dirty Santa and sing Christmas melodies off key all night. It’s warm, lights all golden from the outside and snow dusting the top of the roof like sugar. There’s cars lined up and down the sidewalks, and Zayn pretends he doesn’t see Harry’s dingy red car right off the bat.

“What’d you get for dirty Santa?” Perrie asks as Zayn tries to parallel between two cars that are haphazardly parked on the road.

“iTunes gift card and a box of chocolates,” Zayn answers, inhaling quickly when he almost skims the tiny red car next to him.

He hears her hum her approval. “I got this wine called ‘Gingerbread Wine’. It felt festive.”

“It sounds disgusting,” Zayn comments as he settles the car between the other two, feeling nicely proud.

**  
**“It’s _festive_ ,” she argues. “Plus, I threw in a Visa cash card.”

 

Zayn hums a similar approval, turning off the car before glancing to the house.

“You nervous?” she asks, her voice soft and gentle. Zayn likes all parts of Perrie, honestly, but this is a nice part who’s genuinely worried about him and makes him smile fondly at her. He nods and she sets her mouth to the side to study him. “You need to kiss him, you know. I don’t want your damn sexual tension filling up the house tonight.”

Zayn laughs, but doesn’t comment, because he’s not sure what to say.

 

**! &!**

Niall is flittering over to them the second they enter through the from door, which has a sign stuck in the middle of a wreath that says: “JUST COME ON IN”. Niall smiles at them, reaches out his arms and says, “Hey, Zayn!”

Niall is nice, Zayn’s always known. He’s bright and sunny and friendly. He takes Zayn’s attempt at a handshake and pulls him in for a hug. “Glad you finally showed up! Hazza won’t stop asking when you’ll be here.” He rolls his eyes, and he’s always so blunt that Zayn blushes at his statement.

He hears Perrie snort, and he turns his head to glare at her. She rolls her eyes and reaches out, grabbing Niall’s shoulder and says, “The two of them are terrible, aren’t they?”

Niall looks like he’s just fallen in deep, platonic love with Perrie. “ _Yes_!” he cheers. “Honestly, Harry will never shut up about Zayn. You know they haven’t even  _kissed_  yet?”

 

Perrie’s eyes go wide and she nods like a bobble head. “Oh my fucking god, I  _know_  right? How pathetic!”

 

“It’s terrible!” Niall agrees, and neither of them are attention to Zayn, so he sneaks Perrie’s present out of her hand and leaves them to gossip. He thinks it’s a bad idea, but he honestly doesn’t want to hear discussions about how him and Harry are being rather pathetic towards each other.

He finds Louis immediately, sitting on the kitchen counter and telling everyone about how Niall puked on their honeymoon (which was really just a weekend in a hotel uptown, but still, Louis insists) and that he ruins everything. He says it all fondly, smiling over to where Niall and Perrie are still chatting animatedly. Zayn shakes his head, chuckling and finding the table where all the gift bags and boxes have been tossed for Dirty Santa later.

By the time he’s managed to find space to put his and Perrie’s bags, he has someone touching his shoulder from behind. He should be surprised– maybe even jump– but he’s not, because no one else would call for his attention like that, with a soft to knowing and fond touch that vibrates heat down his nerves. So, he turns, and tries to fight back a grin.

Harry is, though, dimples in his cheeks and green eyes wide. “Hey,” he says, voice bright and soft. His lips are red, like poinsettias in their prime. His eyes are green like pine trees dusted with snow, and Zayn thinks Christmas is a great time for Harry. How the colours flatter him in every light.

 

“Hey,” he replies, smiling, and he let’s Harry’s hands do the part of pulling him into a hug that’s ten seconds too long to be platonic. “Haven’t seen you in awhile.”

Harry laughs, a loud ‘Ha!’ that has him toss his head back as he steps away. “Yeah, been months, man. How’ve you been?”

Zayn’s laughing too, remembering yesterday when they pushed aside responsibilities to sit on a couch in a crowded Starbucks and talk about the Arctic Monkey’s new album, and if they think they’re going to get any better because they’re already so good. “Oh, just fine yeah. New things up since I last saw you.”

Harry’s eyes are perfectly bright like little snowflakes no a Christmas tree and his smile shines like the star on top and, god, Harry is so handsome it feels weird to remember that Zayn is the model and Harry is just an undecided uni-student. Harry should model. Zayn could always teach him to stay still.

He stops those thoughts as quickly as he can. No need to get distracted.

“Glad you could make it,” Harry’s voice is a whisper quieter, and it makes Zayn’s heart stammer for a second.

“Yeah, right, of course,” he replies, his voice just as soft.

**  
**Then he realizes, oh, they’re close. Really close. Inches apart, and it wouldn’t be hard for Zayn to just lean up, let himself kiss Harry, even if for a second. He thinks he could do it, just close his eyes and lean up and–

 

But then, Harry is sniffing the air, eyes springing open and mumbling “oh shit the cookies” and “be right back” before stepping away and out of Zayn’s bubble, out of his touch, out of his reach, and just out. Away. And  _dammit_ , is all Zayn can think. 

 

**! &!**

 

He tells Perrie, who’s practically hanging off Niall and telling Zayn that Niall is her new best friend and they’re going to go to Leeds together while Louis and Zayn are off modeling and Niall is  _cool_ , isn’t he, Zayner?

 

Zayn chuckles, and Niall is laughing and Perrie is poking fun at Zayn’s new almost-kiss story. Niall gives her a long hug, tells Zayn to ball up and just shove his tongue Harry’s throat. Zayn laughs, but his stomach knots up. “Watch, like this,” Niall says before darting off and finding Louis, whose drinking from a bottle and Niall kisses him suddenly. Louis laughs against  Niall’s lips, but parts his mouth and accepts it and yeah, that looks easy, Zayn thinks. But they’re married, so it’s different.

 

Perrie wraps her arms around Zayn’s shoulders, leans against him and sighs.

**  
**“Just how we both want you and Harry to be happy,” Perrie sighs when Zayn asks what her and Niall talked about. “Is that so much to ask?” She sighs again, more dramatically and then makes a whiny noise in the back of her throat. “I’m _huuuuungry_ ,  _again_.”

 

“Well,” he sighs, chuckling as she continues to lean on him. “That’s what happens when you only eat cake and carrots, Pez.”

“I’m a struggling artist,” she pouts and then giggles. Zayn wraps his arm around her waist, drags her off to the kitchen to get her a snack.

Harry’s in there, closing the dishwasher and Zayn doesn’t think quick enough to leave, because he turns around and laughs at the sight of Perrie off Zayn’s shoulder.

“Hey,” he smiles. “Hungry?”

Zayn chuckles and Perrie giggles. “Terribly,” she complains, pulling herself off Zayn and walking over to him. Zayn takes the second to notice her walk is so perfect, and really, Perrie should be a model. She has a great walk.

 

She walks right up to Harry and Zayn can just see Harry smiling down at her. “Hello, Perrie,” he chimes. He glances at Zayn, who rolls his eyes in an apologetic manner for his best friend. “Having fun?”

Perrie shrugs. Then tosses a wink over her shoulder at Zayn before leaning in and whispering in Harry’s ear. Zayn isn’t quick enough to tug her by her arm away from him, embarrassed because surely she’s saying something to make him blush. “Hey!” she squeals and giggles, winking at Harry.

**  
**“She must be drunk, sorry,” stumbles out of Zayn’s lips and, ugh, she must have said something ridiculous he’s sure.

 

“She just said my smile was cute,” Harry laughs, but his eyes are wickedly curious, and Zayn is blushing bright red under his skin tone. “Get jealous there, Z?” and he’s smirking and Zayn is dreading how the next two hours of this party will go, if he’s completely honest.

 

**! &!**

He loses Perrie to Jade, a short girl with bright blue hair and a killer ass, according to Perrie. It takes him a minute to get over to Harry, who’s chatting with Louis, and Harry asks if he’s having fun, and Zayn says he is, and he feels Harry lean into his side. And that’s nice. That’s really nice, actually.

Harry’s warm and doesn’t leave Zayn’s side for most of the party. Their mouths stay a good distance away though, which has Zayn both relieved and upset. He’s not sure if Harry wants to kiss him or not, if he’s honest.

Forty minutes into party and Harry’s hand has slipped into his between the haze of people drinking and singing carol and it’s nice. Harry’s hand is larger, calloused and he’s somehow soft. Harry seems to be a long list of this-and-that’s to Zayn. He wonders how he is to Harry.

**  
**They play a game of who can guess which celebrities just announced they’re engaged when Harry leans over and whispers right against Zayn’s ear, “I’m gonna go check on Louis, alright? Be right back,” and his whole body is so incredibly warm, that when he slips away, Zayn feels chilly in the packed room.

 

**! &!**

Perrie finds him, and she walks over, and she looks perfectly flushed.

“Zayn!” she cries, eyes bright. “Quick, I need to show you something!” she’s smiling and glancing behind her quickly, and Zayn raises an eyebrow but doesn’t lean off the wall.

“Shouldn’t you be drunk by now?” he asks.

She pauses, blinks, then glares at him. “Shut up,” she bites back and grabs his hand out of his pocket and pulls him oughly until he’s following after her. “Come on now!”

**  
**“What is it?” he asks, but Perrie is tugging him along rather insistently, so maybe she is drunk, but still functional.

 

“It’s time to take action,” she says with no context. She pulls him harder, and he stumbles into a guy named Ashton and he tries to apologize but Perrie is pulling him again.

“Pezza, what are you–” but before he can answer she’s spinning around and looking him square in the eye.

“I’m your best friend: true or false?” she asks excitedly.

Zayn hesitates, and she grips his sweater in her hands. “True,” he answers slowly, eyeing her carefully.

“You trust me: true or false?”

“True?”

“Are you asking me?”

“Kind of.”

She giggles at that, let’s go of his sweater and smooths it down. “That’s fine, I guess. Just know I love you.” There’s a beat that’s not long enough for him to ask what the hell is going on before she’s reaching over, opening a door, and the next thing he knows he’s in a closet and hitting a back wall and hissing in surprised pain.

“Perrie!” he shouts as the door closes.

**  
**“I’m sorry!” she squeaks. “This is for your own good! Just one second!”

 

“Perrie, what are you doing!” he yells, walking over to the closed closet door. Before he can even grab the knob though, it’s being opened and someone is slammed into him and he’s pushed back against the wall again. He grunts, “Dammit,” and he feels the person shoving their shoulder into his chest lean before pushing away, stumbling and mumbling and Zayn sees white dots even when he opens his eyes.

“Zayn?” the voice mumbles, and Zayn knows the slow draw belongs to Harry. He blinks, pushes himself off the wall and the closet is small so he’s bumping into Harry and stepping on something that gives under his weight before he can remove his foot.

**  
**“What’s going on?” he asks quickly, hands reaching out and catching Harry as he teeters.

 

“I don’t know,” Harry mumbles, grabbing Zayn’s arm and steadying himself. “Niall said he had to show me something and– are we in a closet?” He looks up, but it’s too dark to see anything besides the sliver of light pooling in form the bottom of the door.

“Yeah,” Zayn says. He looks around, his eyes adjusting but not being able to see much besides Harry, who’s still against him, still so close it’s kind of distracting.

“You alright, lads?” Niall’s voice rings into the closet, loud and happy. “Sorry to do this, but we had no other choice!”

“What?” Zayn asks, looking past Harry’s dark frame and to the door.

**  
**“You two are _killing_  us!” Perrie suddenly chimes, and then her and Niall are laughing but Zayn doesn’t find this funny at all. “Turn the light on!”

 

“What light?” Harry asks, and it’s kind of casual like maybe he doesn't realize him and Zayn have been locked in a closet by their two best friends.

“It’s probably–” Zayn makes an aborted gesture to behind Harry, before deciding to just reach around him, and they’re flush against each other. Harry’s hands have made their way to Zayn’s hips and he’s standing so very still as Zayn brushes his hand up and down the wall. It takes way too long for Zayn to find it and flip the switch, then there’s a low, low light dimming down on both of them it’s bright enough to see everything, including the light pink in Harry’s cheeks when Zayn pulls back.

They stand there, too long maybe, just to stare at each other when they should be screaming and kicking down the door for their dumb friends to let them out, but they don’t. They just kind of stand there.

It’s Perrie, of course, who interrupts the silence they’ve somehow let settle around them. “Look up!” And we’ll be back in ten minutes!” And then her and Niall are cackling loudly and wow, Zayn should have never let them meet.

**  
**Harry looks up first, and Zayn would but he’s distracted by the line of his throat, the way it stretches up and contracts and Zayn doesn’t think he could actually be Harry’s friend. Like, ever. At least as long as Harry’s throat looks like that.

 

“Oh my god,” Harry breathes out a laugh, and Zayn snaps his gaze up, tilts his head and looks up to see a string of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.

“You can’t be serious,” Zayn exhales, but he’s chuckling too because of  _course_  Perrie would. Of  _course_.

 

He brings his gaze back down and Harry is smiling at him, wide and cheeky but his teeth aren’t showing. He’s just staring at Zayn and smiling and that makes Zayn blush, but he smiles too.

“Guessing Perrie and Niall have been scheming all night,” he says, voice low and husky, and yeah, Zayn could never just be Harry’s friend.

“Suppose so,” Zayn agrees, and he’s suddenly very aware of the fact that his hands are gripping Harry’s elbows and Harry’s hands haven’t left Zayn’s hips and there’s no room between them. None at all.

“You still coming over for dinner tomorrow?” Harry asks, suddenly and seemingly random. And Zayn doesn’t remember making those plans, but that actually sounds perfect.

“Yeah, of course,” he agrees, and his voice has hit a whisper, because if he talks too loud it might make distance, and he likes being this close to Harry.

Harry smiles wider, let’s his teeth shine in the dim light and his dimples push into his cheeks and his eyes light up, and Zayn thinks that Harry is that wondrous kind of beauty that creaks in and out all the time. It takes him five seconds, maybe less, to press his lips to Harry’s smile because he wants to know if it heats as well as shines. Harry doesn’t back away all the sudden like every time before, in fact he uses his grip on Zayn’s waist to pull him closer, take Zayn’s top lip between his.

**  
**And Zayn’s never felt quite so woozy, quite so heated and warm and he’s pushing against Harry more, wanting to make sure they’re kissing. Harry’s lips are chapped but soft too, and that doesn’t make any sense. Nothing about Harry makes sense, really.

 

Then Harry’s arms are encircling Zayn’s waist and they’re even closer. Zayn moves his arms up, wraps them around Harry’s neck and pulls him closer and let’s the kiss go deeper, tilts his head up so their noses don’t bump. And it’s their first kiss and it’s kind of perfect, and Zayn thinks he could have never been just friends with Harry, because Harry is too much to keep under just one label for him.

 

Harry’s lips part first and Zayn eagerly lick his tongue across the other boys, and Harry tastes like peppermint and sugar, and that’s weird. He shouldn’t be allowed to taste like both, he should have to chose one or the other because being both have Zayn’s sense sending into a frenzy as he runs his tongue on the ledges of Harry’s teeth and Harry holds him tighter.

Zayn’s the first to pull away, because he can’t really breath, but Harry isn’t done and starts leaving little pecks all over Zayn’s face– his lips, his cheeks, his nose, his lips again– and Zayn is giggling and smiling so wide it almost hurts.

“Been wanting to do that for awhile,” Harry mumbles against Zayn’s forehead, before sealing their mouths together again, and yeah, Zayn can understand the feeling.

 

**! &!**

Perrie and Niall come get them a little while later, and Perrie let’s them both know the door wasn’t even locked so  _ha_  and Zayn is laughing. Harry doesn’t let go of his hips, holds him tighter, in fact. **  
**

 

Harry’s touch doesn’t leave Zayn for the rest of the night. It’s on his elbow, in his hand, skimming his hip. They kiss once, twice, three times before Zayn decides it’s not necessary to count. Perrie cat calls and Niall laughs almost every time they’re caught. But Zayn can’t quite get over the clashing flavours in Harry’s mouth, so he let’s them holler when Harry’s lips are on his.

Before Dirty Santa starts, Perrie comes up behind him and hugs his waist and whispers, “Am I the best or what?”

Zayn chuckles, but taps her hand and he feels the spot on his arm Harry has his fingers laying on. He smiles at her, before looking at Harry, who is already shining at him, and Zayn thinks he’s going to always be in Perrie’s debt for finally shoving them together.

Be that’s alright, he thinks.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to follow me on tumblr (same username)!


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